The Girl in the Road

February 24, 2014
The Trail, or Trans-Arabian Linear Generator, reaches from Bombay to Africa, resembles a “pontoon bridge,” and in the year 2068 generates a vast amount of energy from both the sea and the sun. In this debut novel, it also becomes a means for Meena, a tough young woman living in India, to travel to Ethiopia, where she was born and where her parents were killed soon thereafter. Byrne builds an elaborate future with complex geopolitical realities and a fascinating scientific illustration of the Trail and its power. She also has a clear handle on everything from Hindu rituals to Addis Ababa side streets. Unfortunately, the concepts aren’t enough to bring Meena to life, or perhaps it’s the ideas that suffocate the characters. With overbearing first-person exposition, violent melodrama, and exaggerated sexual escapades, the book never quite coalesces into the sum of its many parts. Additionally, the narrative relies on alternating chapters featuring another story thread—an escaped slave girl, Mariama, heading east toward India as Meena travels west. The two plot strands eventually intertwine, but instead of illuminating one another, they contribute to an overall sense of discombobulation. Agent: Sam Stoloff, Frances Goldin Literary Agency.

March 1, 2014

This spectacular and intriguing book of parallel journeys takes place in the near future and the present day; two narratives that are seemingly unrelated arrow together in a shattering climax. The future quest is that of Meena, escaping from a troubled history by embarking on an impossible odyssey across a floating wave-energy bridge connecting India and Africa. The contemporary Miriama is a child slave fleeing from Mauritania across continental Africa to Ethiopia. Both are running from violent pasts; both are in denial about the truth behind their lives. VERDICT Novelist and playwright Byrne's debut is enthralling on many levels. Meena's story provides a detailed vision of the technological and ecopolitical future of Africa and Asia, while Miriam's account depicts the tenuous experience of a powerless child in Africa. The incorporation of evolving views of gender with reference to the Hijra transgender experience in India and the Wodabe Gerewol mate selection ritual (made famous in Werner Herzog's film Herdsmen of the Sun) propel this novel into the stratosphere of artistic brilliance.--Henry Bankhead, Los Gatos Lib., CA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
Byrne's stunning debut tells the story of two women from different time periods who set out on quests across forbidding landscapes. In India in the latter half of the twenty-first century, Meena survives what she believes is an assassination attempt after discovering a snake in her bed. Fleeing this threat to her life, she decides to track down the woman responsible for the death of her parents more than a quarter-of-a-century ago in Ethiopia. Meena knows her journey won't be an easy one. She intends to travel along the Trail, a bridge used to harness energy that runs across the Arabian Sea. Years before Meena sets out on her journey, ten-year-old Mariama smuggles herself aboard a truck bound for Ethiopia. The drivers take pity on her and allow her to accompany them, but it is Yemaya, a mysterious, beautiful passenger they pick up along the way, who captures Mariama's attention and heart. More than a few surprises await Meena and Mariama and the reader as story lines converge in a surprising, gratifying climax.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)